Baby Born With 4 Arms & 4 Legs Able to Survive As Typical Kid (PHOTO)

Twenty-eight-year-old Margaret Awino had a home birth of her fifth child on May 28th. There was no reason for concern and no worry anything was out of the ordinary. Her mother-in-law was there to help her birth the baby boy she named Paul Mukisa.

It was a typical labor and the sweet boy was born healthy, but something was different. They had to rush to the hospital because baby Paul had four arms and four legs.

The family is from Nabigingo, Uganda, and the local doctors referred them to Mulago Hospital in Kampala where there were specialists better skilled to make the best choices for Paul. What they learned is that Paul had what they call a parasitic twin. It's when there are twins but only one fully forms, while the other conjoins in some way. In Paul's case, he acquired extra limbs.

As a mother, I view this image and it clenches my heart. I worry for the child and how this could affect him. And then I'm tremendously grateful for modern medicine and how doctors know what to do in situations like this. Just last month, Paul underwent a three-hour surgery to remove the parasitic twin. There is some concern that he will walk with a wide gait since his pelvic bone was shared with the twin. His heart is also on the right side of his body and his liver on the left, also opposite where it typically would be. This condition is extremely rare and was the first this hospital has seen.

Since the surgery three weeks ago, Paul has been doing very well and breastfeeding like a champ. The parents were said to have thought their son was born this way due to witchcraft and they said their child was a "laughing stock." People can be so terrible. This makes me so very sad. But again, so very thankful he is recovering well from his procedure.